Bengaluru: BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa was on Wednesday invited to form the next government in Karnataka by proving his majority in the legislative assembly in 15 days. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at 9am on Thursday.
Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala asked Yeddyurappa, 75, to take over the chief minister’s post, capping a day of political flux that began after election results on Tuesday threw up a hung house.
The BJP’s claim to forming a government had been contested by a post-poll alliance of the Siddaramaiah-led Congress and former prime minister H.D.Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular), which too met the governor on Wednesday seeking to be invited to form the government. Deve Gowda’s son HD Kumaraswamy was projected as this alliance’s chief ministerial candidate.
Karnataka held elections for 222 of its 224-seat assembly on Saturday and the results three days later gave the BJP 104 seats, the Congress 78, and the Janata Dal (Secular) 37 seats. JD(S) ally BSP won one seat, while two went to independents.